D&D 5E Will you pay $50.00 for the "standard" PHB?

[Mistwell]

Spending $40 is already tight. I'm getting myself into debt already for the trip, so it's a question of more debt or less. If I'm feeling taken advantage of, it' seas ire to opt for "less".
Especially since I'm Canadian and WotC likes to charge us more for funsies.

And it's worth noting that the "discounted" price online is the cover price of 4e.

On that side note, it still baffles me that WOTC charges Canadians more money for these things. That made sense fifteen years ago with the Canadian dollar was weaker than the U.S. dollar, but since NAFTA (meaning no customs or tariff charges) and also the decreased value of the U.S. Dollar to the point where the Canadian dollar is worth as much or more than the U.S. dollar on average, it just doesn't make sense to keep charging Canadians more than the U.S. price. It should all be one price for Canada and the U.S..

[Edit - I just thought of something. It's the customs/tariff charges. Because these products are likely printed in China, the certificate of origin would say China, and therefore it does not qualify for NAFTA exemption. The Tariff is probably 18% or so).

 

[Kobold Stew]

it just doesn't make sense to keep charging Canadians more than the U.S. price. It should all be one price for Canada and the U.S..

A Canadian agrees!

 

[DMZ2112]

Also, a lot of people do NOT buy $50-60 dollar games anymore, given Humble Bundle and Steam and Game of the Year Editions and whatnot.

Oh good lord, this is so not true. If this were true there would be no video game industry. Look at how relatively few poor-selling titles it takes to bring down a big publisher like THQ. When games don't sell at retail, there are serious consequences.

Gamers are not savvy consumers, Incenjucar: new game comes out, masses purchase it in droves, game publisher profits. The Humble Bundle is a clever combination of good PR and wringing the last drops of profit out of old product.

I am super-critical of the video game industry's abusive price-pointing practices, and even I still preorder games I am anxious to have.

Regardless of these irrelevancies, as has been stated numerous times in these threads by people who know, $50 is what a 300-page hardback costs in 2014. It has nothing to do with the content; a $50 price tag is bog-standard MSRP!

And for the record, MSRP on the Iron Kingdoms Core Rules is $60, direct from Privateer.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

On that side note, it still baffles me that WOTC charges Canadians more money for these things. That made sense fifteen years ago with the Canadian dollar was weaker than the U.S. dollar, but since NAFTA (meaning no customs or tariff charges) and also the decreased value of the U.S. Dollar to the point where the Canadian dollar is worth as much or more than the U.S. dollar on average, it just doesn't make sense to keep charging Canadians more than the U.S. price. It should all be one price for Canada and the U.S..

Yeah, it makes sense to stop it. But they are used to charging more. And the Canadian people are used to paying more. Plus, we're way too polite. So, there isn't a huge uproar about it. Instead there's minor grumbling at best. Certainly not enough to get anything changed. Especially now that they actually make more money off of Canada.

They'll likely just justify it in terms of "Canada is a much larger country with a low population compared to the US, so it costs more for transportation and makes it worthwhile for us to sell the product there, given the low number of sales we can expect."

 

[ForeverSlayer]

The price seems to be more than is defensible unless the book is friggin huge and certainly more than is reasonable for attracting new DMs to the game. It's likely their attempt to put the "Everyone buys the core books and then most stop" thing into overdrive to pick up as much money as they can now with the understanding that it will be the last they see from a lot of people.

The Iron Kingdoms RPG book is absolutely massive, gorgeous, and about $42.

Also, a lot of people do NOT buy $50-60 dollar games anymore, given Humble Bundle and Steam and Game of the Year Editions and whatnot.

My 100-something video game collection was cheaper than my 2E collection, cost of hardware aside, without even adjusting for inflation.

The pre-owned section at Gamestop is wonderful.

 

[Echohawk]

No offense to the OP, but this poll is essentially worthless because it doesn't differentiate between "No, not for $50 I won't - but for <$40 I would" and "No, Next sux and killed Real D&D."

Yet despite this, the poll seems to indicate that somewhere between 54 and 74% of respondents would buy a "standard" PHB for $50. It's probably safe to assume that if the $50 PHB contains more than a "standard" PHB, say, all of the core rules from the play-test packets except the monsters, then the proportion of respondents who would pay $50 for that PHB would be higher.

So, if we assume that this poll is representative of WotC's entire customer base -- which of course, we can't possibly do -- then it would seem to indicate that a $50 price is just fine for a "standard" PHB and even better for a "complete" PHB.

 

[Kyle Ropp]

The pre-owned section at Gamestop is wonderful.

how do you think those games got their "pre owned" status... if anything the fact that this section exists proves the point that gamers are not market savvy

 

[ForeverSlayer]

how do you think those games got their "pre owned" status... if anything the fact that this section exists proves the point that gamers are not market savvy

Some games are bought new, returned, then end up in the used section.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

Why are people comparing video games to TTRPGs anyway?

You aren't comparing like for like?

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Why are people comparing video games to TTRPGs anyway?

You aren't comparing like for like?

When it comes down to it, people only have so much free time. So, you are going to spend your free time doing things you like(if possible). You might spend that free time playing video games or you might spend it playing D&D or any number of other things.

I think it's perfectly valid to say "I enjoy my time spent playing video games and D&D equally but video games cost so much more money, so I'd prefer to buy D&D instead(or the other way around)".